How to add and edit events in the iOS 7 Calendar app

Add new events and amend existing ones on your iPhone or iPad as well as define locations, times, alerts and notes for events

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The iPad and iPhone have a fantastic calendar app that is much more powerful than those you’d use on other devices. It becomes especially useful if you hook it up to other iOS devices and your computer using Apple’s free iCloud synchronisation service.

However, the Calendar app isn’t reliant on being physically synched with a computer. You can add new events and amend existing ones on your iPad or iPhone. These are then sent over Wi-Fi using iCloud to your other iOS devices – no computer is required.

The process for adding a new event from scratch is pretty straightforward but, when it comes to editing events, it’s worth noting one of the options in the Mail, Contacts, Calendars section of the Settings app. Scroll down to Calendars and you’ll find the Default Calendar option. Tap this to see a list of the calendars. Select one of them and it will be used as the default in the Calendars app when you create a new event. The setting can be overridden on a per-event basis, but it’s a good timesaver to have your most-used calendar as the default option.

You can view your calendar by day, week, month or year. In Month view you see all the days and can scroll up and down between months. In Year view you don’t get to view any events, but can tap on any month you want to view. In the bottom-left is a Today button that’s also worth getting to know. Calendars is a fantastic organiser. Let’s take a look at how it works.

Step 1: Different views - You can switch between Day, Week, Month and Year view by tapping on the tabs at the top. You can scroll up and down through the hours of a day, or days in a month.

Step 2: Add an event - Tap the Add (+) icon at the top-right of the screen to create a new event. The keyboard will pop up and you can fill out the Title field with the name of your event.

Step 3: Add details - Tap inside the Location field to add the place where your event takes place. Note that these elements will be searchable, so it pays to type in something reasonably accurate.

Step 4: Define a duration - Tap the Starts and Ends fields to adjust the time of the event. Select Starts and use the barrel picker to define a time, and do the same for Ends. Tap outside the picker to set it.

Step 5: Set an alert - Tap Alert to set an event alert time. You can pick from a set of predefined times. The alert appears as a notification at the set time. You can use Second Alert to add dual reminders.

Step 6: Pick a calendar - If the event you’re adding isn’t meant to be part of your default calendar, tap Calendar and select a different one. Multiple calendars can make it easier to manage a hectic life.

Step 7: Add notes - Should your event need some more information use the Notes section. Notes are also searchable, so this is a good place to add memorable word associations.

Step 8: Edit events - Most event details can be edited. In day and list views, tap a selected event and Edit to change the details. In week and month views, tap a selected event and then the Edit button.

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Nik Kane said: Comments,Nik Kane,Is there any way to add an event in the past?UPDATE:Nevermind. When I added events in the past they would just disappear from my calendar, but I was able to find a setting which I changed from "Sync events for past 1 month" to "Sync all events" and they reappeared.

macworlduk said: Comments,macworlduk,If you tap Calendars at the bottom of the page (Show Calendars) then tap Edit and select a calendar to edit, you can tap the name and retype it. And of course when you create a new calendar you get to pick the name.

M Ulfsparre said: Comments,M Ulfsparre,Step 6: Start a calendar : Q Is there any way of editing the calendar names themselves?